Welcome to the light, periculum, welcome to the light. Maxy is AAA, at best. Probably not even that. Nice kid and all that but, as you can see, not ready at all at the plate. Really don't think he warrants a spot on the 40-man any longer.

Boz posted his take on Livan. Resign him even if some of his games are blown wide open.

Boz, just like any of the other pitchers as we saw today, they aren't going to let him go much beyond 100 pitches. If he wants to go deep into innings he is going to have to pitch more efficiently, not walk batters (3 in the first inning) and, yes, as a "soft-tosser" go for early contact on the ground.

Livan knows it too. He knows its all about control and location as you described.

I was shocked to learn during the pregame that Dukes is hitting about .450 for the last 10 games, with 9 walks and 6 rbis. Tonight he added another walk and a triple. I was under the impression, abetted by the beat writer that he was in danger of playing himself off the team.

Also, Willie Harris is not terrible at getting on base. They keep that stat, and he gets on about .350, lowish for a lead off hitter, but not terrible. What he's been terrible at is hitting, but it makes little difference when you're the first guy up. And the only guy who is not one of the power hitters who has a higher obp is Orr, who has been hot since he came up, but is just up, and I believe is not nearly as fast as Harris.

Livan's had two good starts and a lousy one. Boswell made the interesting point that the reason he has a .500 record over a long career is that half the time he's good, can throw 120 pitches and not let anybody score. And half the time he's a mess. Half the time a mess would still find a place in our rotation I believe. Plus, I love watching him strike out people with 70 mile an hour glop when he's on. Like a lesson in human physiology to see how such great athletes cannot adjust.

@sec231: I was at the game, so not watching it on TV, but they kept showing the pups on the scoreboard, and the "fan of the game" was one of the dogs, so it looked like great fun. Would love to bring the Grey Princess, who, although feline, walks on a leash and tolerates children and tourists and fireworks...

BTW, it's really hard to pay full attention to a baseball game when your friend's 7 year-old is with you, also.

I was at the game, too. Missed the mastiff interview but enjoyed seeing pups on the scoreboard, including the fan of the game (a real cutie). One guy, however, was engaging in some rather risque pantomime with his pooch and another.

I was also accompanied by (neighbor) kids. After the game, we visited the team store and we were looking for an affordable (heh) trinket for them. Then I spied some baseball cards on the bottom shelf. But when I crouched down to examine them - they were O's team cards. No Nats card packs to be seen. I stated (rather loudly I'll admit): "O's cards? Why are they selling O's cards here?" One of the store staffers looked at me like I was crazy (okay, I'll give him that one). Yeah, I know. We're one big MASN family and all that. But, dang...

So for at least another day, the team logo W's painted behind home plate, etched onto the mound and mowed into center field will be the only W's the Nationals and their fans will have seen since a 5-4 win in Chicago on Aug. 27.

I was fearful the dog thing would be a disaster, but it seemed to go well. (No fireworks, I presume to avoid alarming the canines).

On the other hand, Riggleman played both the trump cards in the manager's hand, arguing with an umpire and making a double switch (plus pinch running a pitcher) and still no soap. Maybe the team's just not very good.

I thought it was time to fire Manny because that's the ritual, and if you live in a culture where they sacrifice goats to end a drought, then sacrifice the goat even if you don't believe it will bring rain. Plus, with this front office, if they didn't fire him it would pretty much confirm they just didn't care. And maybe Manny will have to develop more visible fire if he's ever going to be a successful manager On the other hand, there have been great managers who rarely said much (Walter Alston), and lousy managers who were screamers (Larry Bowa). Sometimes they change the manager and the team gets hot and wins the pennant. Then, two years later, they fire that manager because the heat wore off. It's like anything else -- it's a mystery.

So for at least another day, the team logo W's painted behind home plate, etched onto the mound and mowed into center field will be the only W's the Nationals and their fans will have seen since a 5-4 win in Chicago on Aug. 27.

You are right, they didn't pop off any during the Star-Spangled Banner (which was pretty well done). Otherwise, there were no opportunities for fireworks--of the celebratory kind, were there?

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I was fearful the dog thing would be a disaster, but it seemed to go well. (No fireworks, I presume to avoid alarming the canines).

Normally they pop off fireworks when the team takes the field, which I've always thought was a rather too cheeky practice. Maybe this dog thing will make them realize that they shouldn't be doing that.

Next, how to eradicate Sweet Caroline from Nationals Park? I thought it had been banned, but now it seems to be back. What's the deal, Stan? You do know it's a Red Sox thing, don't you?

...season-high eighth consecutive loss in front of a largely indifferent crowd of 18,111.

People were (I am not kidding) reading books and knitting during the game. Those that didn't have their dogs to play with had to find something to do, I guess, since there wasn't a baseball game to watch or anything like that on the field.